‘EACH METER’

No Evidence Russia Is Making Progress in Bakhmut: Report

The Wagner Group is “likely becoming increasingly pinned in urban areas” of the Ukrainian city, a U.S.-based think tank said.

There is no evidence that Russian forces are making headway in their ongoing bid to take the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, according to a report published late Saturday by a Washington-based think tank. The Institute for the Study of War said there had been no confirmed advances by Moscow on Saturday, though it appeared as though Russian soldiers and units from the paramilitary Wagner Group were continuing to launch ground assaults. “Ukrainian and Russian sources continue to report heavy fighting in the city, but Wagner Group fighters are likely becoming increasingly pinned in urban areas, such as the AZOM industrial complex, and are therefore finding it difficult to make significant advances,” the report said. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner Group’s founder, said Sunday on Telegram that the situation in Bakhmut was “difficult, very difficult, with the enemy fighting for each meter,” according to the Associated Press.